Vanessa Cornejo Urbieta, widely known as Vanessa Laine Bryant, is famous as the wife of many years of a retired NBA star Kobe Bryant. In addition to her family duties, Vanessa is a popular model and mother of 3 girls. She was born in Huntington Beach, CA to Mexican parents.
Vanessa’s mother Sofia Urbieta divorced, when Vanessa was still a baby and her older sister Sophie was in her teens. Soon Sophia re-married Stephen Laine, and Vanessa took his surname, having become Vanessa Laine.
The girl attended Marina High School, when she met her future husband Kobe Bryant. Vanessa was a trained dancer, and participated in the music video of “Tha Eastsidaz”, the hip hop band, demonstrating various dancing movements. At that time Kobe, a young basketball player, was in the same building. Thus, two sweethearts met and started dating. Still a teenager, Vanessa was followed by paparazzi everywhere. It was hard for her to study at school, so she finished her education remotely.
Vanessa and Kobe got married in spring, 2001. By the way, they didn’t sign a prenup, that’s why in case of divorce Kobe would give his beautiful Latin wife a half of his $150 million wealth.
kobebryant / instagram
In spite of possible profit, Vanessa Laine Bryant is not going to split from her famous husband. Nevertheless, their marriage had tough times. In 2003 Kobe Bryant was accused by a female hotel worker in sexual assault. Although the court event was regulated, Kobe had a lot of family problems, having confessed in adultery.
But Vanessa told that she wouldn’t separate from her husband because of his “mistake”. For her understanding Kobe presented his wife $4 million ring. Just to compare, Kobe paid for Vanessa’s engagement ring just $100, 000. By the way, basketball player’s parents were against of their wedding. They considered their son as too young for marriage and his fiancée as a gold digger. They were estranged from Kobe during several years and reunited after the birth of their first granddaughter Natalia.
After that Vanessa told in her interview that Kobe Bryant was a big star on the field, but he was even greater out of the field. In spite of such great words, in 2011 the woman filed for divorce. But the couple coped with their problems again and reconciled.
In spite of all the controversies, Vanessa has always been an important part of Kobe Bryant life. The journalists even compared her to Yoko Ono, who had similar impact on her husband John Lennon.
Vanessa and Kobe have three cute daughters.
Kobe Bryant kids
Natalia Diamante Bryant (daughter with Vanessa Laine)
kobebryant / instagram
Date of birth: January 19, 2003
Natalia is the oldest child in Vanessa Laine and Kobe Bryant family. The baby girl was born in winter, 2003 and immediately changed life of her mother. Later Vanessa opened up in her interview to xoNecole online platform, that she becoming a mother was the best thing, which had ever happened to her. Immediately she decided to become “a solid rock” for her newborn daughter and to the kids she welcomed later.
Although Natalia’s father had a busy schedule, and was away 75% of time (according to Natalia’s mother words), still the girl had lots of positive memories on her childhood. For example, they arranged game competitions at weekends, and Natalia was usually teamed up with her mother, while her younger sister Gianna played by her father’s side. Among Natalia’s hobbies was swimming. She liked to refresh in a huge swimming-pool, located in the yard of her parents’ house.
Natalia Diamante (whose second name means “diamond”, as you have guessed) attended LA Sierra Canyon School. Currently she is a pupil at Sage Hill High School.
Gianna Maria-Onore Bryant (daughter with Vanessa Laine)
ourlatinas / instagram
Date of birth: May 1, 2006
Date of death: January 26, 2020
Although the legendary basketball player Kobe Bryant doesn’t have a son, probably, his daughter Gianna would keep her father’s talent and his heritage. The girl is interested in basketball, and according to the videos, which her father posts in Instagram, she plays not worth than Hall of Fame member Kobe Bryant.
Gianna was born in spring, 2007. She had become a long-awaited baby in her parents’ family, because two years earlier her mother suffered from miscarriage.
The girl resided with her parents in LA. She attended Sierra Canyon School and played for the basketball team there. Her retired father coached the girl, and she dreamed to follow his pace and to choose this career way too. But her dreams just didn’t come true. She was one of nine passengers (including her famous father), who died in a helicopter crash, which took place in Calabasas, CA.
Bianka Bella Bryant (daughter with Vanessa Laine)
kobebryant / instagram
Date of birth: December 5, 2016
Probably, Bianka is the luckiest child of all Vanessa Laine and Kobe Bryant kids, because she was born just one year before her father’s retirement. That means her legendary dad will spend more time with her than with her older sisters.
Being just 1 year old, Bianka has already become a small star. She got lots of public attention, while visiting her father’s farewell ceremony, arranged by Los Angeles Lakers teammates for him.
Although small Bianka couldn’t understand each word of her father’s sweet farewell speech, hopefully, she would grasp its main idea – to work hard, to work early in the morning and late at night, to work against your will and to enjoy it, because that’s the main taste of success – not the fame, but that process of work.
Capri Kobe Bryant (daughter with Vanessa Laine)
Date of birth: June 20, 2019
On January 2, 2019 Kobe opened up through Instagram that his wife and he are expecting the fourth baby girl. On June 20, 2019 Natalia, Gianna and Bianka became big sisters to the newborn Capri Kibe Bryant, nicknamed by her relatives as KoKo. Cobe and his wife Vanessa couldn’t hide their happiness. The ex-athlete’s wife shared great news through her Instagram account. She got lots of congratulations from happy followers and her husband’s fans.
Who are Kobe Bryant parents?
Joe Bryant (father)
Date of birth: October 19, 1954
Although the younger generation knows him as a father of a legend and a person, who managed to grow up a child prodigy, Joe is not just a good parent, he is also a basketball star himself.
He was born in 1954 in Philadelphia, PA. His birth name is Joseph Washington Bryant and his nickname is Jellybean. Joe studied at John Bartram High School. In his teens he was keen on sports and played for the school basketball team. Incredibly tall teenager (Joe is 6 ft 9 high), he seemed to be born to play basketball.
Joe Bryant continued his education in La Salle College. Being 22 year old student, he was drafted by Golden State Warriors and started professional career.
After retirement from professional sports, Joe continued to earn his living as a coach. He worked with young athletes not just in USA, but in Italy, Thailand, Japan and other countries too. Among his recent achievements, he coached Los Angeles Sparks team.
In his interviews Joe never gets tired to tell, that he is proud of his popular son. But while being interviewed by Ramona Shelburne, Kobe opened up that he had complicated relationships with his parents and sisters. The main reason was money. In 2013 Joe and Kobe’s mother Pam tried to sell their sons school things through an auction. At the same time, Kobe tells, they got his financial support, which he regularly sent to his parents.
Pam Bryant (mother)
Date of birth: 1954
Pamela Cox Bryant was born in 1954. She is a sister of an NBA popular player Chubby Cox. Pam married to Joe Bryant in 1975. Together they welcomed three kids – one son and two daughters.
Pam Bryant has a troubled relationship with her son. First of all, she couldn’t accept his wife Vanessa, because she considered her too young and non African-American. These reasons were enough for Pam to hate her daughter-in-law and boycott her son’s wedding.
In addition, she sold her son’s memorabilia through an auction with her husband. After that Kobe’s lawyers made the auction managers return his things, which were sold. He insisted that Pam had no right to do it, while she told that her son made her the owner of all the things he had left in her house.
Pam and her husband Joe didn’t attend Kobe’s farewell speech at the stadium, so probably, they still have contradictory relationships.
Kobe Bryant siblings
Sharia Bryant-Washington (older sister)
Date of birth: March 19, 1976
Sharia Danielle Washington, born Sharia Bryant, is the first kid in Joe and Pam family. She lives in Las Vegas, NV. She studied at Temple University in Philadelphia. She graduated with bachelor degree in business administration. Sharia is also an athlete. She is certified as a personal trainer. Currently she serves at Lifetime Fitness Organization.
Shaya Bryant-Tabb (older sister)
shayamb / twitter
Date of birth: July 30, 1977
Shaya Tabb, born Shaya Bryant, is a middle child of Pam and Joe. She was born in Philadelphia, PA and studied La Salle University. She got degree in international business. Currently she lives in Las Vegas and works at Revenue Management as a director.
According to Kobe Bryant words, at first his sisters lived from his financial support. Then he decided to reduce it as he wanted his sisters to develop their own careers and personalities. That was harmful for their brother-sisters relationships. But after that Sharia and Shaya built their own fates.
Bio
Kobe Bryant died on January 26, 2020 in a helicopter crash. He was on the board with his daughter Gianna, the college basketball coach John Altobelli, John’s wife and daughter and other members of the college basketball team. They were on the way to the Mamba Sports Academy, where Mr. Bryant coached Gianna’s team. The reasons of the crash are not clear as of January, 2020 and the team of 18 investigators were sent to the site of the crash to understand, what really happened with the helicopter and its passengers.
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